Method and system for automatically generating web page transcoding instructions

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for generating transcoding instructions to identify and extract a subset of data from a web page. Input describing the subset of data is received where the input describes one or more data fields and, for each data field, respective field values from at least two sample web pages of a web page family for the web site. For each field, respective web page code defining the respective field values may be compared for commonality to find a matching pattern with which to locate the respective field values. The matching pattern comprises a signature for the data field. Transcoding instructions are defined using the matching pattern to locate and extract field values within web pages of the web page family. The subset of data may be expressed in a target format to transcode the web page for particular client machines (e.g. a wireless mobile device).

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application claims the benefit of the prior filing of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/924,503 filed May 17, 2007,the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights.

FIELD

The present application relates generally to telecommunications and moreparticularly to a method and system for automatically generating webpage transcoding instructions.

BACKGROUND

Web sites host and provide information using web pages that arecommunicated electronically via a telecommunications network. Accessingthis information by some client computing devices can be challenging.Computing devices are becoming smaller and increasingly utilize wirelessconnectivity. Examples of such computing devices include portablecomputing devices that include wireless network browsing capability aswell as telephony and personal information management capabilities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is schematic representation of a system for content navigation.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a wireless communication devicefrom FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow of interactions among components of the systemof FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a system for content navigationin accordance with another embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow of interactions among components of the systemof FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary operations of an automatic signaturecreation tool of the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary view of a user interface of a desktoptagging tool for indentifying a subset of data on a web page inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 8A-8D and 9A-9D respectively illustrate representative web pagesrendered on a first browser window and portions of said representativeweb pages transcoded and rendered on a second browser window inaccordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The smaller size of most wireless mobile client devices necessarilylimits their display capabilities. Furthermore the wireless connectionsto such devices typically have less or more expensive bandwidth thancorresponding wired connections. The Wireless Application Protocol(“WAP”) was designed to address such issues, but WAP can still provide avery unsatisfactory experience or even completely ineffectiveexperience, particularly where the small client device needs to effect aconnection with web sites that host web pages that are directed totraditional full desktop browsers.

A system and method are provided for generating transcoding instructionsto identify and extract a subset of data from a web page. Inputdescribing the subset of data is received where the input describes oneor more data fields and, for each data field, respective field valuesfrom at least two sample web pages of a web page family for the website. For each field, respective web page code defining the respectivefield values may be compared for commonality to find a matching patternwith which to locate the respective field values. The matching patternmay define a signature for the data field. Transcoding instructions aredefined using the matching pattern to locate and extract field valueswithin web pages of the same web page family. The subset of data may beexpressed in a target format to transcode the web page for particularclient machines (e.g. wireless mobile device).

In accordance with an aspect there is provided a method of automaticallygenerating transcoding instructions to locate and extract a subset ofdata from a selected web page of a web site. The method comprisesreceiving an input describing the subset of data, said input comprisingone or more data fields and, for each data field, respective fieldvalues from at least two sample web pages of a web page family for theweb site; and for each data field: comparing respective web page codedefining the respective field values for commonality to find a matchingpattern with which to locate the respective field values, said matchingpattern comprising a signature for the data field; and defining thetranscoding instructions in accordance with the matching pattern tolocate and extract field values for the data field within web pages ofthe web page family.

Comparing respective web page code defining the respective field valuesmay comprise locating the respective field values in the respective webpage code. Comparing respective web page code defining the respectivefield values may further comprise locating object tags within the webpage code. The method may further comprising constructing a programmaticdata structure representing a hierarchy of object tags within the webpage code and reviewing the hierarchy to determine the commonality.

Comparing respective web page code may comprise performing patternrecognition to define a common pattern within the web page code withwhich to locate the respective field values.

The web page code may comprise markup language in plain text. Eachsignature may comprise characters selected from the plain text of theweb page code.

The method may further comprising automatically defining the input inaccordance with a tagging tool that identifies the respective fieldvalues from the sample web pages. The web site may comprise ane-commerce web site for making a purchase.

The method may further comprise defining transcoding instructions toexpress the extracted subset of data in a target format thereby totranscode the web page.

In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a system forautomatically generating transcoding instructions to locate and extracta subset of data from a selected web page of a web site. The systemcomprises a processor and memory coupled thereto, said memory storinginstructions and data to configure the processor for: receiving an inputdescribing the subset of data, said input comprising one or more datafields and, for each data field, respective field values from at leasttwo sample web pages of a web page family for the web site; and for eachdata field: comparing respective web page code defining the respectivefield values for commonality to find a matching pattern with which tolocate the respective field values, said matching pattern comprising asignature for the data field; and defining the transcoding instructionsin accordance with the matching pattern to locate and extract fieldvalues for the data field within web pages of the web page family.

Yet another aspect provides a computer program product for automaticallygenerating transcoding instructions to locate and extract a subset ofdata from a selected web page of a web site, the computer programproduct storing computer readable instructions which when executed by acomputer processor configure the processor to: A computer programproduct for automatically generating transcoding instructions to locateand extract a subset of data from a selected web page of a web site, thecomputer program product storing computer readable instructions whichwhen executed by a computer processor configure the processor to:receive an input describing the subset of data, said input comprisingone or more data fields and, for each data field, respective fieldvalues from at least two sample web pages of a web page family for theweb site; and for each data field: compare respective web page codedefining the respective field values for commonality to find a matchingpattern with which to locate the respective field values, said matchingpattern comprising a signature for the data field; and define thetranscoding instructions in accordance with the matching pattern tolocate and extract field values for the data field within web pages ofthe web page family.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a system 100 for contentnavigation via a telecommunications network. In a present embodimentsystem 100 comprises a plurality of client computing devices in the formof client machines 102A and 102B (collectively 102), a web site server106 hosting a web site 104 and a gateway and schema server 120. Devices102 are respectively coupled to communicate with gateway and schemaserver 120 to obtain web pages (e.g. 110) transcoded from web site 104.

In the present embodiment, a web server 106 serves web pages (e.g. 110)which comprise web site 104. The web pages are defined from a pluralityof web page family templates 108A-108D (collectively 108) and web pagecontent (described further herein below) from data store 112. For easewithin the present embodiment, only a single web site 104 is showncoupled via gateway and schema server 120; however, in anotherembodiment a plurality of different web sites may be so coupled. In thepresent embodiment of system 100, gateway and schema server 120 iscoupled to a schema repository 124 from which to obtain a signatureschema 122 for a particular web site. Signature schema documents (e.g.122) provide instructions and data with which an engine 140 of server120 can extract data from web pages (e.g. 110) and transcode same to atarget format to provide transcoded web page data (e.g. 130 and 132) tothe respective requesting client machines 102A and 102B as describedmore fully below. Gateway and schema server 120 may also be coupled to adatabase 126 for retrieving/storing data extracted from web sites inaccordance with its operations. The database 126 may be a relationaldatabase storing extracted data from web sites in relation to thedefined signature schema. The stored data can be accessed by aStructured Query Language (SQL). Signature schemas for respective websites may be defined (e.g. coded) using a computing device 128 asdescribed herein below.

Representative client machines 102 include any type of computing orelectronic device that can be used to communicate and interact withcontent available via web sites. Each of the client machines 102 may beoperated by a respective user U (not shown). Interaction with aparticular user includes presenting information on a client machine(e.g. by rendering on a display screen) as well as receiving input at aclient machine (e.g. such as via a keyboard for transmitting to a website). In the present embodiment, client machine 102A comprises a mobileelectronic device with the combined functionality of a personal digitalassistant, cell phone, email paging device, and a web-browser. Such amobile electronic device may comprise a keyboard (or other inputdevice(s)), a display screen, a speaker, (and other output device(s)(e.g. LEDs)) and a chassis for housing such components. The chassis mayfurther house one or more central processing units, volatile memory(e.g. random access memory), persistent memory (e.g. Flash read onlymemory) and network interfaces to allow client machine 102A tocommunicate over the telecommunication network.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a schematic block diagram shows an exemplaryclient machine 102A in greater detail. It should be emphasized that thestructure in FIG. 2 is purely exemplary, and contemplates a device thatmay be used for both wireless voice (e.g. telephony) and wireless data(e.g. email, web browsing, text) communications. Client machine 102Aincludes a plurality of input devices which in a present embodimentincludes a keyboard and, typically, additional input buttons,collectively 200, an optional pointing device 202 (e.g. a trackball ortrackwheel) and a microphone 204. Other input devices, such as a touchscreen, and camera lens are also contemplated. Input fromkeyboard/buttons 200, pointing device 202 and microphone 204 may bereceived at a processor 208. Processor 208 may be further operativelycoupled with a non-volatile storage unit 212 (e.g. read only memory(“ROM”), Erasable Electronic Programmable Read Only Memory (“EEPROM”),or Flash Memory) and a volatile storage unit 216 (e.g. random accessmemory (“RAM”), speaker 220, display screen 224 and one or more lights(LEDs 222). Processor 208 may be operatively coupled for networkcommunications via a subsystem 226. Wireless communications areeffective via at least one radio (e.g. 228) such as for Wi-Fi orcellular wireless communications. Client machine 102A also may beconfigured for wired communications such as via a USB or other port andfor short range wireless communications such as via a Bluetooth® radio(all not shown).

Programming instructions that implement the functional teachings ofclient machine 102A as described herein are typically maintained,persistently, in non-volatile storage unit 212 and used by processor 208which makes appropriate utilization of volatile storage 216 during theexecution of such programming instructions. Of particular note is thatnon-volatile storage unit 212 persistently maintains a web browserapplication 86 and, in the present embodiment, a native menu application82, each of which can be executed on processor 208 making use ofvolatile storage 216 as appropriate. An operating system and variousother applications (not shown) are maintained in non-volatile storageunit 212 according to the desired configuration and functioning ofclient machine 102A, one specific non-limiting example of which is acontact manager application (also known as an address book, not shown)which stores a list of contacts, addresses and phone numbers of interestto user U and allows user U to view, update, and delete those contacts,as well as providing user U an option to initiate telecommunications(e.g. telephone, email, instant message (IM), short message service(SMS)) directly from that contact manager application.

Native menu application 82 may be configured to provide menu choices touser U according to the particular application (or other context) thatis being accessed. By way of example, while user U is activating thecontact manager application, user U can activate menu application 82 toaccess a plurality of menu choices available that are respective tocontact manager application 90. For example, menu choices may includeoptions to invoke other applications (e.g. a mapping application to mapa contact's address) or communication functions (e.g. call, SMS, IM,email, etc.) on the client machine 102A for a particular contact. Menuapplication 82 may be associated to a particular input button (e.g. oneof buttons 200) and invoked to provide a contextual menu comprised of aplurality of menu choices that are reflective of the context in whichthe button 200 was selected. Note that the options in a contextual menuare stored within non-volatile storage 212 as being specificallyassociated with a respective application. Menu application 82 may betherefore configured to generate a plurality of different contextualmenus that are reflective of the particular context in which the menuapplication 82 is invoked. For example, in an email application where anemail is being composed, invoking menu application 82 would generate acontextual menu that included the options of sending the email,cancelling the email, adding addresses to the email, adding attachments,and the like. The contents for such a contextual menu would also bemaintained in non-volatile storage 212. Other examples of contextualmenus will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art.

As noted, gateway and schema server 120 applies a signature schema totranscode a web page and provide transcoded data to a requesting clientmachine 102. Signature schema 122 may be configured to transcodenavigational features of a web site 104 to provide menu options to menuapplication 82 for use when browsing the web site 104 with browser 86.The signature schema may further transcode web site content forpresentation by the browser 86.

FIGS. 8A-8D and 9A-9D respectively illustrate representative web pagesrendered on a first browser window and portions of a subset of data fromsaid representative web pages transcoded and rendered on a secondbrowser window in accordance with an embodiment. FIG. 8A illustrates arepresentative home web page 660A of an e-commerce web site (e.g. 104)in a browser window 650. Window 650 is illustrative of a rendering to alarge size display device (e.g. desktop monitor). Web page 660Acomprises, among other things, a menu portion 652 and a primary contentdisplay portion 654, in the example, showing various advertisements 655for products. FIG. 9A illustrates the menu portion 652 extracted andtranscoded and rendered as a web page on a second browser window 750.Window 750 is illustrative of a rendering to a small size display device(e.g. of a wireless mobile device). In addition to transcoding as a webpage, menu portion 652 may be transcoded for menu application 82 e.g.for invocation when browsing the site 104 as referenced further herein.

FIG. 8B illustrates an exemplary product web page 660B in window 650showing various product data (collectively 666) including image 666A,price 666, title 666C and description 666D data that is transcoded andshown in window 750 of FIG. 9B. Also transcoded is the web pagehierarchy list 668 showing where the page is on the web site.

FIG. 8C illustrates an exemplary product list web page 660C in window650 showing a list of products (collectively 670). A subset of theproduct data such as image 670A, price 670B, and title 670C istranscoded and shown in window 750 of FIG. 9C. Note that multiple pages672 may be provided for the list 670.

FIG. 8D illustrates an exemplary account checkout web page 660D inwindow 650 showing a login form 680 for receiving account login andpassword, which form is transcoded and shown in window 750 of FIG. 9D.Though not shown, other checkout pages (e.g. for payment or orderconfirmation, etc.), search pages, product and information pages may besimilarly transcoded.

Returning now to FIG. 1, web server 106 and gateway and schema server120 (which can, if desired, be implemented on a single server) can bebased on any commonly available server environments or platformsincluding a module that houses one or more central processing units,volatile memory (e.g. random access memory), persistent memory (e.g.hard disk devices) and network interfaces to allow servers 106 and 120to communicate over the telecommunications network. Web server 106 hostssoftware applications comprising instructions and data for generatingand serving web pages dynamically from the template families 108 andcurrent informational content therefore from data store 112. Loadbalancing, security/firewall, billing, account and other applicationsmay also be present.

Gateway and schema server 120 hosts software applications comprisinginstructions and data for proxying requests and responses between theclient machines 102 and web site 104. In addition to software formaintaining HTTP communications, performing requests, maintainingsessions, handling cookies, etc., engine 140 may be implemented insoftware to apply the signature schemas to web pages from web sites.There may be provided an interpreter that interprets the signatureschema document and applies the actions against the web page code (as anASCII (plain text) document) to extract the subset of data to produce aresult set. A renderer may be provided to express the subset of dataresult set (i.e. transcode to a target format such as cHTML (CompactHTML) for a mobile device browser) for transmitting to the clientmachines also in accordance with the signature schema. A cache featuremay also be provided for storing/retrieving data from database 126.Caching may comprise storing web pages from the web site as well asextracted data from which to build a relational database of object andelements and their relationships. The gateway and schema server (or aseparate server (not shown)) may host a web site engine to providecontent extracted from the relational database (e.g. stored web sitedata) to the client machines 102.

Devices 102, schema server 120 and web site 104 are coupled via atelecommunication network (not shown) typically comprising a pluralityof interconnected networks that may include wired and (at least fordevice 102A) wireless networks. It should now be understood that thenature of the network is not particularly limited and is, in general,based on any combination of architectures that will support interactionsbetween client machines 102 and servers 106 and 120. In a presentembodiment the network includes the Internet as well as appropriategateways and backhauls.

More specifically, in the present embodiment, a wireless network forclient machine 102A may be based on core mobile network infrastructure(e.g. Global System for Mobile communications (“GSM”), Code DivisionMultiple Access (“CDMA”), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(“EDGE”), Evolution Data-Optimized (“EV-DO”), High Speed Downlink PacketAccess (“HSPDA”), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”),etc.) or on wireless local area network (“WLAN”) infrastructures such asthe Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.11Standard (and its variants) or Bluetooth or the like or hybrids thereof.In the present embodiment of system 100 it is contemplated that clientmachine 102B may be another type of client machine such as a PC (desktopor laptop) configured to include a full desktop computer or as a“thin-client”. Typically such have larger display monitors/screens thanportable machines like 102A. A wired network for system 100 and device102B can be based on a T1, T3 or any other suitable wired connection.

As previously stated in relation to FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the clientmachines 102 is configured to interact with content available over thenetwork, including web pages on web site 104. In a present embodiment,client machines 102A and 102B may navigate for content using a browserapplication (e.g. 86). As will be explained further below, on clientmachine 102A, browser application 86 may be a mini-browser in the sensethat it may be configured to render web pages on the relatively smalldisplay 224 of client machine 102A. Often, during such rendering, thosepages are presented in a format that may be different from how thosepages are rendered on a traditional desktop browser application (e.g.browser 86 of client machine 102B). Mini-browsers typically attempt toconvey substantially the same information as if the web pages had beenrendered on a full browser such as Internet Explorer®, Safari® orFirefox® on a traditional desktop or laptop computer like client machine102B.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operations/interactions fortranscoding a web page (e.g. 110) from web site 104 for client machine102A, providing an example of the interaction among the gateway andschema server 120, client machine 102A and the web site 104. Clientmachine 102A makes a request 302 to server 120, acting as a proxy, for aspecific web page (e.g. 110) from a web site having a specific domain(URL). The gateway and schema server engine 140 receives the request andmakes a corresponding request 304 as a proxy to the web site's webserver 106 for the specified page, receiving 308 the web page code (e.g.110) into the engine's (140) memory. The web page code is treated as anASCII (plain text) file. It typically does not include objectsreferenced by the code such as images, video, audio, further web pages,etc. that are typically subsequently retrieved and inserted at the timeof rendering a web page by a browser.

The engine 140 (for example, in parallel or without waiting for aresponse from server 106) makes a request 306 to the signaturerepository 124 for the signature schema document 122 for the web site,which request may use the domain in the URL as an identifier forobtaining the document 122. The engine 140 receives 310 the schema. Theengine 140 does not render the web page 110 per se but instead uses theinstructions in the signature schema document 122 to extract the subsetof data from the web page 110 for transcoding. In the present embodimentsignature schema 122 is configured to transcode the web page 110 inaccordance with the specific characteristics of the requesting clientdevice 102A, having knowledge of display 224 capabilities—such as screensize, resolution, and other parameters—useful in determining the way inwhich the transcoded data is to be displayed on the machine 102A.

Optionally, the web page 110 or extracted data or both can be stored 312in database 126. Engine 140 transmits 314 the transcoded data 130 thathas been extracted and transcoded to a target format from web page 110,in accordance with the schema 122, to the requesting client machine102A. As noted above, transcoded data 130 may comprise transcodednavigational data for menu application 82 and informational content data(e.g. a list of products and related information from a web page) fordisplaying by browser application 86.

Signature schemas are pre-defined documents, and may be eXtensibleMarkup Language (XML) documents utilizing an SQL-like query language, toincorporate instructions and data with which to intelligently extractthe data from web pages (which web pages are typically coded in HTML,DHTML, XHTML, XML, RSS, JavaScript, etc). This extracted data may betranscoded and provided to client machines 102, or used to dynamicallygenerate a relational database (e.g. 126) or both. Each signature schemaincorporates an understanding of a particular web site's data includingrelationships among the various data (e.g. among its primaryinformational content found in the body of its web pages as well asamong such content and associated navigational data (e.g. web pagelinks) that govern the data in the page). As described further hereinbelow, prior knowledge of the web page code including specificidentifiers, tags and text (i.e. strings) used within the code(sometimes referred to as “signatures” herein), may be used to defineinstructions to identify portions of the code of interest and to extractspecific data.

As a further feature, transcoding may be configured to providecontinuity of browsing/transactional/session experience enabling a userto switch client machines (e.g. starting with client machine 102A andswitching to machine 102B (or vice-versa)). A user may be enabled tostart an interaction with a web site and have displayed data (publishedcontent and navigational data) on the client machine 102A. The browsingsession may then be continued on a second client machine (102B) whileretaining the transcoding as provided to the first client machine. Forexample, a user on a desktop can continue to browse the publishedcontent and navigational data of the web site as previously experiencedon a mobile device, using only a portion of the desktop screen (forexample) for data display.

In accordance with the present embodiment, a signature schema documentmay be defined for all the pages of a particular web site. Largedata-driven web sites (e.g. 104) don't maintain thousands of individualweb pages per se. The sites typically adopt a few page family templates108 and dynamically populate these with pertinent content from database112 comprising information (e.g. weather, stock data, news,shopping/product data, patent data, trade-mark data etc.) as applicablewhen a client requests a particular page. Each template represents afamily of pages having objects and attributes. Below are representativeexample page family templates and their objects and attributes for a website offering news and an e-commerce web site offering products for saleelectronically:

Example 1 News Site

-   Family: List Page-   Objects: lists a selection of news stories-   Attributes: Title, abstract and date-   Family: Detail page-   Objects: lists a single news story (and optionally other related    stories)-   Attributes: Journalist, City, Date, Title, Full Story, Image

Example 2 E-Commerce Site

-   Family: List Page-   Objects: lists a selection of products-   Attributes: Image, Item Name, Price, Sale Price-   Family: Search Page (a specific kind of list page)-   Objects: Similar to a list page

Each family of pages (the family template) can be identified by a“signature” or unique set of one or more features that automaticallyidentifies a given page on a web site as part of the family anddifferentiates that family from another family of pages. Similarly eachobject and attribute field of interest can be identified with itsrespective unique signature within a family of pages. A signature schemadocument typically comprise numerous pieces of information (commands),for example, information that instructs the engine 140 for:

-   -   identifying all page families;    -   identifying and extracting a subset of data (i.e. desired        objects and attributes) for each page family;    -   capturing the (implicit or explicit) relationships between the        objects and attributes; and    -   transcoding the data.

A signature schema document may also be configured to enable specialfunctionality for the target web site including searching, logging in auser, purchasing items, etc.

In accordance with a present embodiment, the structure and syntax of arepresentative signature schema document for a representative e-commercesite eshop.ca is shown and described. Engine 140 may be configured toreceive web page code comprising text data and search through the textin accordance with the schema document instructions that provideSQL-query like language instructions. Engine 140 maintains a pointerwithin the text as it moves through the web page code performing variousactions, as described below, in accordance with the schema instructions.Table 1 illustrates a snippet of a representative signature schema:

TABLE 1 XML Signature Schema Snippet for E-Shop.ca 1 <?xml version=“1.0”encoding=“ISO-8859-1” ?> 2 <site> 3  <version major=“1” minor=“2”/> 4 <url location=“http://www.eshop.ca” key=“eshop.ca” name=“E-Shop” /> 5 <advanced> 6 7   <index_link value=“http://www.eshop.ca/home.asp” /> 8 </advanced> 9  <page_type> 10   <lookup type=“pex”action=“locate_string” name=    “list_elements” id=“mylist_1”ref=“Compare products”    alt1=“Sort products” /> 11   <lookuptype=“pex” action=“locate_string” name=“item_elements”    id=“myitem_1”ref=“&quot;product-details&quot;” /> 12   <lookup type=“pex”action=“locate_string” name=“menu_elements”    id=“mymenu_2”ref=“anc-lhsnav-subItem” /> 13   <lookup type=“pex”action=“locate_string” name=“menu_elements”    id=“mymenu_1”ref=“product-table” /> 14   <lookup type=“pex” action=“locate_string”name=“item_elements”    id=“myitem_1” ref=“*” /> 15  </page_type> 16 <list_elements id=“mylist_1”> ... 17  </list_elements> ... 18 <item_elements id=“myitem_1”> 19   <actions> 20    <lookup type=“pex”action=“move_ptr” ref=“&lt;/head&gt;” /> 21   </actions> 22   <element>23    <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“image”    ref=“largeimageref” location=“after” start=“&lt;img src=&quot;”    end=“&quot;” /> 24    <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string”name=“title” ref=“product-     details-prd-title” location=“after”start=“&lt;span”     end=“&lt;/span&gt;” include_sz=“1” strip_tags=“1”/> 25    <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“price” ref=“ourprice:”     location=“after” start=“&lt;td” end=“&lt;/td&gt;”include_sz=“1”     strip_tags=“1”/> 26    <lookup type=“pex”action=“get_string” name=“sale_price”     ref=“sale price:”location=“after” start=“&lt;td” end=“&lt;/td&gt;”      include_sz=“1”strip_tags=“1” tolerance=“1” /> 27    <lookup type=“pex”action=“get_string” name=“description”     ref=“detailbox-text” location=“middle” start=“&lt;p”     end=“&lt;/p&gt;” include_sz=“1”strip_tags=“1” /> 28   </element> 29  </item_elements> ...

In the XML code snippet of Table 1, instructions at line 4 are forverifying that the web page under consideration and the signature schemarelate to the same web site/domain—eshop.ca. Instructions at lines 9-15are for determining the particular page family to which the web pageunder consideration belongs. A respective signature that defines theparticular page family has been previously identified for use todistinguish the page. The engine 140 processes the <page type> tag byregistering the identification strings for each page family. When a webpage is obtained by the engine as input, the engine may be able toidentify the page family by its unique string ref=” and the commandprovides the related tag within the signature schema document wherefurther instructions for the particular web pages are found:

-   action=“locate_string”: command to check for the existence of a    string.-   name=”: identifies the type of page family for each identified    family.-   id=”: assigns an id to the page family that is used across the    signature schema document.

For example, at line 10, the instructions identify a web page using thealternative signatures “Compare products” or “Sort Products”. Web pageswith these strings are of the same family type. The instructions at line10 provide a reference tag to further instructions for this family,providing a link to instructions for the list_elements page family withand ID of mylist_(—)1 (see lines 16-17). Similarly the other lookupinstructions provide references to the specific instructions within thesignature schema document for handling a web page of each web pagefamily. Representative instructions for some of the web page familiesare provided in Table 1, for example, at lines 16-17 and 18-29 withothers omitted for brevity.

With reference to the extraction instructions for one of the web pagefamilies (e.g. item_elements id=“myitem_(—)1”) at lines 18-29, theinstruction at line 20 advances the scan pointer within the text file ofthe web page code to a beginning limit of a region of interest indicatedby a signature reference. This establishes an upper limit for reviewwithin the text file. Though not shown in this table, an end limit maybe defined as well (See Table 4). Further such instructions at lines22-28 may comprise commands to locate the subset of data using“signatures” such as string identifiers that uniquely identify the datawithin the region of interest. In the present example the instructionslocate and extract a plurality of elements, namely, product image,title, price, sale price and description for a product of the item webpage family. For example, instructions at line 23 extract a string inbetween the first “&lt;img src=&quot;” and “&quot;” that appears afternext appearance of “largeimageref”. The string returned is the path(relative URL at web site eshop.ca) to the product image. By advancing asearch scan pointer within the web code to a particular location,references before that location can be skipped when searching. Any priorinstances of a signature string such as “largeimageref” may be ignored.In this way, otherwise ambiguous signature references can be avoided.

The example in Table 1 shows at least some of the instructions (e.g.lines 23-27) including one or more directional references relative tothe signatures to locate and extract the subset of data. For example,directional references such as “before” or “after” command the engine toextract the data that is in a relative position in the web page beforeor after the signature string (i.e. ref=). Moreover, such instructionsmay further include at least one of a start reference or an endreference further pinpointing the location of the data in accordancewith that direction. Additional directional reference information isdiscussed herein with reference to code snippets in other Tables and thediscussion of an embodiment of signature transcoding engine syntaxpresented below.

The example within Table 1 demonstrates the extraction of data and theestablishment of relationships between objects and elements within asame page of a web site. However, signature schema documents may furthercapture relevant attributes of an object across pages. For example, auser of client machine 102A may click through a number of web pages ineshop.ca to get to a specific product page (e.g. Department→ProductCategory→Product Sub-Category→Specific Product, such as TV &Video>19′-21″ TVs>LCD TVs>BrandX Product. The navigational hierarchyrepresenting a categorization may be captured and associated to theextracted objects and there elements.

For brevity, certain instructions were omitted from Table 1. Tables 2-4provide representative instructions for further web page families fore-shop.ca that may be read with Table 1. Table 2 below providesrepresentative instructions, e.g. for lines 16 and 17 of Table 1,including instructions for a web page family related to a list ofitems/products for sale. Whereas instructions at lines 22-28 providedproduct data extraction instructions for a web page family showing asingle item (i.e. product), the instructions of Table 2 provideadditional instructions that repeat product data extractions for eachproduct in the list.

TABLE 2 XML Signature Schema Snippet for Product List Page Family ofE-Shop.ca 1 <list_elements id=“mylist_1”> 2  <paging> 3   <page_variablevalue=“page” /> 4   <page_start value=“0” /> 5   <lookup type=“pex”action=“get_string” name=“link”    ref=“Next&amp;nbsp” location=“before”start=“&lt;a    class=” end=“&lt;/a&gt;” include_sz=“1” strip_tags=“1”/> 6  </paging> 7  <actions> 8   <lookup type=“pex” action=“move_ptr”ref=“Sort or compare products”    ref_alt_1=“Sort products” /> 9 </actions> 10  <element> 11   <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string”name=“link” ref=“thumbnail”    location=“before”start=“&lt;ahref=&quot;” end=“&quot;&gt;” /> 12   <lookup type=“pex”action=“get_string” name=“image” ref=“thumbnail”    location=“middle”start=“&quot;” end=“&quot;” /> 13   <lookup type=“pex”action=“get_string” name=“title”   ref=“class=&quot;tx-strong-dgrey&amp;quot;” location=“after”   start=“&lt;a href=” end=“&lt;/a&gt;” include_sz=“1”    strip_tags=“1”/> 14   <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“price”ref=“pricepill/”    location=“after” start=“/” repeat_start=“1”end=“.gif”    tolerance=“1” /> 15   <lookup type=“pex” action=“move_ptr”ref=“pricepill/” /> 16  </element> 17 </list_elements>

If the engine 140 identifies that the page is of the “mylist_(—)1”family, the engine determines the location in the signature schemadocument that contains the signature for the objects and elements ofthat family and applies the instructions therefor. A product list ate-shop.ca may span multiple web pages. Instructions at lines 2-6 ofTable 2 find the number of pages and generate the links for each of thepages. Instructions at lines 7-9 (action tag) advance the search scanpointer to the region of web page code that may be of interest (i.e. inthis case, the start of the list). In this way, a local signaturereference can be used and any earlier ambiguous references skipped.Skipping to the local region of interest may also make the specificationof the signature reference less complicated.

Taking advantage of inherent repeated patterns in the web page code,instructions at lines 10-16 (elements tag) of Table 2 provide productdata extraction instructions that may be repeated for each product inthe list. The engine 140 may be provided with commands to scan for eachdata element of interest using a signature reference e.g. ref=”, anaction, one or more positional instruction(s) to further identify thedata within the text of the web page code, and any additional text datamanipulation instructions to extract the data (e.g. to remove HTMLformatting characters or add characters). The instruction at line 15moves the scan pointer to the end of the object (in this example aproduct in a list of products) to ready the instructions for applicationagainst the next object (product) in the list.

More particularly:

lookup type=“pex”: string lookup

action=“get_string”: returns a value back that is the desired element ofthe object.

name=“link”: the object element, in this case the link to the productpage

ref=“thumbnail”: the reference string that identifies where to find thevalue of the link

location=“before”: the value of the link is before the ref string

start=“&lt;a href=&quot;”: look for the ref string after this value

end=“&quot;&gt;”: look for the ref string before this value.

TABLE 3 E-Shop Search Family Signature Schema Snippet 1 <search_elementsid=“mysearch_1”> 2  <settings> 3   <search_pathvalue=“http://www.eshop.ca/search/search.asp/> 4   <search_variablevalue=“keyword” /> 5  </settings> 6  <paging> 7   <page_variablevalue=“page” /> 8   <page_start value=“0” /> 9   <lookup type=“pex”action=“get_string” name=“link” ref=“Next&amp;nbsp”    location=“before”start=“&lt;a href=” repeat_start=“1”    end=“&lt;/a&gt;” include_sz=“1”strip_tags=“1” /> 10  </paging> 11  <actions> 12   <lookup type=“pex”action=“move_ptr” ref=“bg-compare-hero” /> 13  </actions> 14  <element>15   <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“link” ref=“&gt;”   location=“after” start=“&lt;a href=&quot;” end=“&quot;&gt;” /> 16  <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“image” ref=“&lt;a href”   location=“after” start=“&lt;img src=&quot;” end=“&quot;” /> 17  <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“title”   ref=“class=&quot;tx-strong-dgrey&amp;quot;” location=“after”   start=“&lt;a href=” end=“&lt;/a&gt;” include_sz=“1” strip_tags=“1” />18   <lookup type=“pex” action=“move_ptr” ref=“bg-compare-hero” /> 19 </element> 20 </search_elements>

If the engine 140 has identified that the page is of the “mysearch_(—)1”family the engine applies the portion of the signature schema documentthat contains the signature for the objects and elements of that family,shown above in Table 3.

-   <settings> . . . </settings>: Contains any web page specific manual    overrides such as excluding certain menu items, customization,    modification of a menu that may be desired. In this example, as per    line 3 a value of form variable “keyword” will be posted to    “http://www.eshop.ca/search/search.asp”.-   <paging> . . . </paging>: Manages paging for the search pages.-   <actions> . . . </actions>: Instruct the engine to move the scan    pointer to the string “bg-compare-hero” (line 12 of Table 3) and    start looking for elements from there.-   <element> . . . </element>: Contains lookup instructions for each    object element as previously described.

TABLE 4 E-shop Menu Family Signature Schema Snippet 1 <menu_elementsid=“mymenu_1”> 2  <settings> 3   <black_list value=“Site Index##ExternalLink” /> 4  </settings> 5  <actions> 6   <lookup type=“pex”action=“move_ptr”   ref=“bg-lhsnav-title” /> 7   <lookup type=“pex”action=“end_ptr” ref=“&lt;/table&gt;” /> 8  </actions> 9  <element> 10  <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string”   name=“link” ref=“&lt;li&gt;”   location=“after” start=“&lt;a href=&quot;” end=“&quot;” /> 11  <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string”   name=“title” ref=“&lt;li&gt;”   location=“after” start=“&lt;a href=&quot;” end=“&lt;/a&gt;”   include_sz=“1” strip_tags=“1” /> 12   <lookup type=“pex”action=“move_ptr” ref=“&lt;/li&gt;”/> 13  </element> 14 </menu_elements>

If the engine 140 has identified that it is looking for a menu on a pagethat contains the menu style of the “mymenu_(—)1” family, the engineapplies the portion of the signature schema document that contains thesignature for the objects and elements of that family, shown above inTable 4.

-   <settings> . . . </settings>: Contains any page specific manual    overrides such as exclude list, customization, modification,    personalization, etc. In this example, as per line 3, any result    that matches “Site Index”, “External Link” are excluded but partial    matches are also possible by using wild card strings.-   <action> . . . </action>: Lines 6-7 of Table 4 sets the start and    end limits to instruct the engine 140 where to look for menu items.-   <element> . . . </element>: Contains lookup instructions for each    object element as previously described. In this example, lines 10    and 11 of Table 4, an element in ‘mymenu_(—)1’ (each individual menu    entry of web page) contains link and title as its properties. Line    12 instructs the engine to move the pointer to “&lt;/li&gt;” to get    ready to loop through and extract the next menu item with the same    elements, taking advantage of the repeated patterns within the text    of the web page code.

Though the example described relates to extracting informational contentfor an e-commerce oriented site, no limitation should be applied.Similar instructions may be defined for other types of sites, for pageswhich permit a user to input information and for navigational dataextraction.

Signature schema document 122 may further comprise transcodinginstructions (not shown) for use by engine 140 to express the extractedsubset of data in a target format (e.g. a format of HTML, XML, scriptetc.) for use by the requesting client machine 102. For example, thetranscoding instructions may define a web page for displaying theextracted data in browser application 86 that is suitable for display onthe client device 102. The formatting rules can be system and/or userdefined and can include parameters such as but not limited to: objectpositioning, object colour, object size, object shape, object font/imagecharacteristics, background style, and navigational item display (e.g.in a menu as described above) or for display with the content in thegenerated page on the client screen. Browser application 86 (e.g. ofmachine 102A) may be configured for using a markup language (e.g. cHTML)or other code format that is not identical to the code provided by webpage 110. Alternatively, transcoding instructions may be defined toexpress the extracted subset of data in XML or another code format suchas for use by a different client application or plug-in to a clientapplication such as menu application 82 or another application (notshown) on client machine 102.

Signature schema documents may be prepared (i.e. coded) using acomputing device such as computing device 128. Computing device 128 maybe any suitable desktop or laptop device capable of coding documents(which may be but need not be XML-type documents) and may be configuredto automate or semi-automate coding of such documents.

Computing device 128 may be coupled to web site 104 to retrieve webpages from the site for reviewing to prepare the custom signature schemadocument for the site. Computing device 128 may be configured toautomatically review the web page code and apply heuristics or othertechniques (e.g. spatial analysis) to determine probable content ofinterest (i.e. subset of data) and generate code to extract the subsetof data. For example, primary content of interest tends to be locatedtoward the centre of the web page. In another embodiment, the computingdevice may facilitate a user coding signature schema to manually assistwith the analysis of the web page and identification of subset of dataand the generation of the instructions. Computing device 128 may befurther coupled to repository 124 to provide (e.g. up-load or publish)coded signature schema documents for use by server 120.

Automatic Generation of Signature Schema 122

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7, in one embodiment, the computing device 128of system 100 comprises an automatic signature generation tool 150 forpreparing a custom signature schema document for web pages of a website. Computing device 128 may further comprise a desktop tagging tool160 having a graphical user interface 165 (which may be adapted tocooperate with a web browser application) for assisting a user toidentify the desired data (e.g. product title, image, description andprice data) in a web browser window 700. User interface 165 may comprisea portion of the window while the remaining portion 702 displays therendered web page 110A for which a signature schema is to beconstructed. User interface 165 may present a form 706 showing thedesired data (fields and values therefor) where candidate data values710 from data 704 of the web page 110A populates the form 706. Userinterface 165 may facilitate confirming or amend the candidate datavalues. For example, data replacing the candidate data 710 may beselected and captured (not shown) from the rendered web page 110Athrough “drag and drop” or highlighting/copying user gestures.

User interface 165 may be predefined to present candidate desired data(i.e. for particular desired data types that are expected to be found onweb pages for such web sites of a similar genre). That is, a userinterface 165 for an e-commerce web site selling products may be definedto present “product title”, “image”, “price”, etc. If a particularcandidate value was incorrect, for example, product image 704A, title704B, etc., such may be selected and dropped or copied into form 706 ofinterface 165. Optionally, the interface may permit the user to add datatypes (fields and field values) to the presented data. In associationwith these actions, tool 160 examines the associated HTML sourcecode/tags of the rendered web page for capturing this data. Desktoptagging may be useful to assist with the identification of the desireddata within the web page code so that signatures therefor within the webpage code of similar pages may be determined for defining the signatureschema documents.

Although the desktop tagging tool 160 and the automatic signaturegeneration tool 150 are described in relation to computing device 128,it will be understood that any one of the client machines 102 may beconfigured to comprise the tools 150 and 160. Further, it will beunderstood that the exemplary operation of the automatic signature tool150 may be implemented similarly on the client machines 102. Similarly,the flow of interactions may apply similarly for either one or both ofthe computing device 128 or the client machine 102.

Although signature schema documents 122 may be manually coded, theseactivities may be time consuming and subject to human error. Therefore,by providing an automatic signature tool 150 to automate coding ofsignature schema, transcoded web pages (e.g. 130, 132), and thustranscoded web sites, may be readied for use faster and more reliably.

Referring to FIG. 6 shown are exemplary operations 600 of the automaticsignature generation tool 150. A detailed example of two sample webpages used to define a signature schema will be presented below. At 602,the automatic signature generation tool 150 receives an inputidentifying the desired data that is to be located and extracted, thatis, for which signatures and instructions are desired. Tool 150 receivesan input identifying a set of fields and corresponding field values forextraction from at least two sample web pages of a web page family. Thefields and field values have also been referred to as elements herein.That is, the fields may refer to the categories or attributes by whichan object (such as an item for sale) may be defined. For example aproduct object such as a camera may have the following fields: image,title, price, description. The values for each of the fields related tothe camera may be referred to as field values. The field value for thetitle field may include “BrandX 7.2 MP Digital Camera”.

The input identifying the fields and field values for extraction asdefined in 602, may be provided by: a manual review of the web page toidentify desired fields (e.g. locating the desired image within objecttags of a web page) and to indicate the content type of various tags inthe web page (e.g. navigation, title, price, image, item description,etc.). Alternatively, the input fields and field values of step 602 maybe semi-automated using the desktop tagging tool 160 to highlightportions on the web page and therefore visually select which contentdata corresponds to what meaning (e.g. to select the elements on a pagelinked to a field). Further alternately, the desktop tagging tool 160may be used to automatically populate fields and estimated values forthe fields and to allow a user to confirm/correct estimated fields (e.g.by using heuristics or other rules automatically applied in combinationwith pre-defined locations of fields (e.g. confidence intervals) to webpages to identify likely data) provided by tagging tool 160 or othermodule (not shown).

At 604, each identified field and corresponding field value is locatedwithin object tags of each of the at least two sample web pages. Forexample, if for the first sample web page, the input received identifiesan image field having the value “product_image.gif”, then this value isfirst located within an object tag of the first web page. For example,the object tag may be: <img src=“product_image.gif”> and it is thesecond image object tag (e.g. a second instance of the <img tag) in thecode of the web page that contains this object tag. The received inputfurther identifies that for the second web page, the identical fieldtype (e.g. image field) has a value of “sample_image.gif”. It isdetermined that the second image object tag in the code of the web pageis associated with the identified image field (e.g. the object tag maybe <img src=“sample_image.gif”>).

At 606, the automatic signature generation tool 150 compares the objecttags of identical fields (e.g. image field) between the two sample webpages to identify a commonality between the object tags for theidentical fields (such as common location, string identifiers, attributetype, and other patterns (i.e. a pattern comprising characters thatdescribe a set of strings that can uniquely identify a field value))within the plain text (ASCII) web page code. A pattern may include“string1”*“sting2” where * represent 0 or more characters between thecharacters of “string1” and “string 2”.

In the above example, the commonality between the two identified objecttags may be that the object tag was the second instance of the “img”attribute within the code of each web page; that the object for the twosample web pages starts with ‘src=“’ and that ‘”’ ends the string thatprovides the field value for each object. For example, the object tag ofthe first web page provided the string “product_image.gif”. Further, theobject tags corresponding to each web page and having the identicalimage field type may be identified by the attribute “<img”.

At 608, automatic signature generation tool 150 uses the commonalitybetween object tags of identical fields of the two sample web pages todefine instructions to locate and extract the desired data, whichinstructions comprise a portion of the signature schema 122 for webpages of the same family type. Operations 600 may be repeated for eachof the identified fields and field values (elements) to determine thecommonality and patterns between the two sample web pages, in turndefining signatures and instructions with which to define at least aportion of signature schema 122. Further, operations 600 may be repeatedfor other web pages of other family types in the web site to generatethe instructions to code other respective portions of schema 122.

An example of the operations 602, 604, 606, and 608 will now bedescribed with reference to two illustrative sample web pages (and theirillustrative HTML code in Table 6). As described earlier, pre-identifiedfields and field values indicating the subset of data to be located andextracted from the web page code for this web page family are provided(Table 5) for each of the sample web pages (for operations 602). As alsodescribed, the pre-defined fields may either be identified manually bythe user or using the desktop tagging tool 160 including estimatedlocations of the fields to generate the desired fields and field values.

TABLE 5 Example Fields and Field Values of Two Sample Web Pages Item1Image Product_image.gif Title Product Title Price $79.99 List Price$99.99 Description This is a description for Product title made byProduct Manufacturer Item2 Image Sample_image.gif Title Sample TitlePrice $99.99 List Price $109.33 Description This is a description forSample title made by Sample Manufacturer

TABLE 6 Example HTML Web Pages Document of the Two Sample Web Item1.html<html> <head></head> <body> <img src=”company_logo.gif” class=”image” /><div class=”product”> <h1>Product title</h1> <h2>ProductManufacturer</h2> <img src=”product_image.gif” /> <br> List Price:<strong> $99.99 </strong> <br /> <br> Our Price: <strong> $79.99</strong> <br /> <p> This is a description for Product title made byProduct Manufacturer </p> </div> </body> </html> Item2.html <html><head></head> <body> <img src=”company_logo.gif” class=”image” /> <p>disclaimer </p> <div class=”product”> <h1>Sample title</h1> <h2>SampleManufacturer</h2> <img src=”sample_image.gif” /> <br> List Price:<strong> $109.33 </strong> <br /> <br> Our Price: <strong> $99.99</strong> <br /> This is a description for Sample title made by SampleManufacturer </p> </div> </body> </html>

As noted, automatic signature generation tool 150 repeats operations602-608 for each of the input fields (e.g. image, price, title,description) to define a commonality between the web page code (e.g.tags etc.) used to describe each of the respective fields and therebydefine the signature schema 122 for that field.

Step 1—Identify the Image Field and Field Value in the Sample Web Pages

First, the automatic signature generation tool 150 examines the web pagecode of Item1 for the identified image field <imgsrc=“product_image.gif”/>. Tool 150 may initially identify “src” as anattribute corresponding to the image field and scan the source (HTMLdocument) of the Item1 web page for src=“product_image.gif”. It doesfind a match (as it ought to since the field was previously selectedfrom this code) and the location thereof. It then scans item2 but nomatch is found in item2. Next the automatic signature generation toollooks at “<img” within the source document of item1. It determines thatit is the second match (corresponding to the “img” attribute). Once theobject tag corresponding to the image field and field value has beenlocated within item1, the automatic signature generation tool 150examines Item2 for the image field having value of sample_image.gif.When looking at Item2, the second object tag having the image attributealso provides the object that contains the image. Now that a matchingobject corresponding to the same field type (e.g. image) has been found,a similar heuristic is used by the automatic signature generation tool150 to locate the result from within the object. If the object is a textnode, the process is complete. Text nodes are easily distinguished bytheir respective tags in the code. Otherwise, the start and end of theobject corresponding to the image field may need to be located. Usingpattern recognition techniques, it is found that the pattern ‘src=“’starts the string and that ‘”’ ends the string. Therefore the followingentry may be added to the signature schema 122 for defining the imagefield.

<lookup type=”pex” action=”get_string” name=”image” ref=”<img ”repeat_ref=”1” start=” src=&quot;” end=”&quot;” />Step 2—Identify the Title Field and Field Value for Each Sample Web Page

From Item1 the object <h1>Product title</h1> is selected by theautomatic signature generation tool 150 based on the identified fieldsto review. Tool 150 identifies that it is a text node within the codeand looks to its parent to identify uniqueness. There are no attributesfor the parent <h1>. Next the automatic signature generation tool 150looks at “<h1” within Item1. It determines that it is the only match.When looking at Item2, there is only one match, and the matching objecttag contains the title. Now that the automatic signature generation tool150 has obtained the matching object for the title field in each of thesample web pages, a similar heuristic is applied to locate the resultfrom within the object. Since the object is a text node, the process iscomplete. Therefore the following entry may be added to the signatureschema 122 for defining the title field of a web page.

-   <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“title” ref=“<h1”    start=“&gt;” end=“&lt;”/>    Step 3—Identify the Price Field and Field Value for Each Sample Web    Page

From Item1 the object <strong> $79.99 </strong> is selected by theautomatic signature generation tool 150. There are no attributes to bechecked for this element. Next the element looks at “<strong” withinItem1. It determines that it is the second match that contains thedesired price ($79.99). When looking at Item2, the second strong tagalso provides the object that contains the price. Since the object is atext node, the process is complete. Therefore the following entry may beadded to the signature schema 122 for defining the Price field of a webpage:

<lookup type=”pex” action=”get_string” name=”price” ref=”<strong“repeat_ref=”1” start=”&gt;” end=”&lt;” />Step 4—Identify the List Price and the List Price Value for Each SampleWeb Page

From Item1, the object <strong> $99.99 </strong> is selected by theautomatic signature generation tool 150. There are no attributes to bechecked for this element. Next the signature generation tool 150 looksat “<strong” within Item1. It determines that it is the first match thatcorresponds to the selected object that contains the desired list pricefield and value. When looking at Item2, the first strong tag alsoprovides the object that contains the list price field and value. Sincethe object is a text node, the process is complete. Therefore thefollowing entry would be added to the signature schema 122 for definingthe List Price field of a web page:

-   <lookup type=“pex” action=“get_string” name=“price” ref=“<strong”    start=“&gt;” end=“&lt;”/>    Step 5—Identify the Description and the Text Value for the    Description Field for Each Sample Web Page

From Item1 the next identified field for automatic signature generationtool 150 is object “<p> provides a description for Sample title made bySample Manufacturer </p>”. This object represents the pre-identifiedDescription field and field value of Item1. There are no attributes tobe checked for this object. Next the signature generation tool 150 looksat “<p” within Item1. It determines that it is the first match thatcontains the desired description field and field value. When looking atItem2, the first <p tag does not provide the object that contains thedesired description (e.g. “This is a description for Sample title madeby Sample Manufacturer”). The parent object <div class=“product”> isselected next by the automatic signature generation tool. It identifiesthe attribute class=“product”, and scans Item1, and determines that itis the only match. The <p tag is processed again, limiting its search tothe parent. The <p tag is identified as the first instance within theparent in Item1. Next the same process is performed on Item2. First theattribute class=“product” is located. The first <p tag that is a childof the object containing class=“product” is found. The <p object alsocontains the desired description (e.g. “This is a description for Sampletitle made by Sample Manufacturer”. Since the object is a text node, theprocess is complete. Therefore the following entry would be added to thesignature schema 122 for defining the description of a web page:

<lookup type=”pex” action=”get_string” name=”description” ref=”class=&quot;product&quot;” start=”&lt;p&gt;” end=”&lt;” />

Accordingly, as illustrated in Step 5 of the example above, in oneembodiment, the automatic signature generation tool 150 examines theHTML document (or other format of web page) and constructs aprogrammatic data structure to model a hierarchy of the tags. Theresulting structure may be a tree, which defines the parent, siblingsand children of each object. The operations may identify the key objectsthat contain the data required for the signature schema document 122.Once a particular object is identified as being a desired data field(i.e. is one of the fields in Table 5), the uniqueness of the object maybe identified by examining its properties (for example class, style, id)within the structure. If the properties of the object are not unique,then the task to identify the uniqueness for the object would expand toits parent, siblings and children. For example, if the object is a textnode of the tree (or other hierarchical structure), the object may usethe properties of its parent to assist with the identification of isuniqueness for expression as a signature. The operations may expand inall directions uniformly (i.e. examine parent, then previous sibling,then next sibling, then first child). The properties of each of theseitems may also be merged with the desired object to build out theuniqueness. This process would then be repeated on the parent, then theprevious sibling, etc, until a unique identifier was found. Once aunique identifier was found, an expression would be created for thesignature.

Accordingly, in view of the above, the automatic signature generationtool 150 provided by the computing device 128 provides the signatureschema 122 for a new web page family using at least two sample webpages. As illustrated in steps 604 and 606, the tool 150 compares two ormore delimiters (pertaining to a common schema of the definition of thepages) from each of the sample web pages in order to identify commonuses of the delimiters (and their contents). Once identified as a match,the corresponding object, for example, is placed in the hierarchicalstructure (or other ordered list, etc.) for defining the signatureschema 122.

It is recognized that the hierarchy can link entities either directly orindirectly, and either vertically or horizontally. The only direct linksin a hierarchy, insofar as they are hierarchical, can be to theentities' immediate superior or to the entities' subordinates, althougha system that is largely hierarchical can also incorporate otherorganizational patterns. Indirect hierarchical links can extend“vertically” upwards or downwards via multiple links in the samedirection. Traveling up the hierarchy to find a common direct orindirect superior, and then down again can nevertheless “horizontally”link all parts of the hierarchy, which are not vertically linked to oneanother. Further, the structure may also be a list implemented usingarrays or linked/indexed lists of some sort. The structure may havecertain properties associated with arrays and linked lists.

Further, it is recognized that the structure would be represented in thesignature file 122 as the entries or instructions as noted above. It isrecognized that a user of the device 128 could manually amend orotherwise review the automatically generated signature file 122, asdesired.

It will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that as aweb site may be re-designed or otherwise changed such that the code ofone or more web page families may be changed or a family added, anexisting signature schema may require re-coding to account for thechange/addition, as applicable.

It will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that as aweb site may be re-designed or otherwise changed such that the code ofone or more web page families may be changed or a family added, anexisting signature schema may require re-coding to account for thechange/addition, as applicable.

Signature (Transcoding) Engine Syntax

In accordance with a present embodiment, further details concerning thesyntax of schema instructions are described.

Lookup Syntax

The lookup tag instructs the engine 140 to perform an insert, delete orquery the document contents.

Type: Defines the data type of the lookup. Type may be “pex” for astring expression. Type may also support more advanced options such asregular expressions, API calls, and SQL queries.

Action:

-   Action=“locate_string”: Look for a string (“ref” identifier”) value    within the data. Return true iff the string exists in the data (i.e.    the “ref” identifier index>=0).-   Action=“replace_string”: Replace a string within the data with the    “ref” identifier.-   Action=“move_ptr”: Remove all characters in the data that exist    before the location of the “ref” identifier.-   Action=“end_ptr”: Remove all characters in the data that exist after    the location of the “ref” identifier.-   Action=“get_string” Extract a string based on the location of the    “ref”, “start”, and “end” identifiers.-   ID: ID is an identifier of another section within the signature. It    allows the result of a query to trigger another set of actions    within the signature. This is primarily used when identifying page    types. Once a match has been made, specific instructions are    executed that are marked with this ID. Recursive data structures    (e.g. lists within lists) may also be supported.-   Ref: Ref defines the initial identifier that the lookup searches    for. If an AND case is required multiple ref identifiers can be used    (i.e. ref=“string1” ref1=“string2”). If an OR case is required    ref_[ref identifier]_alt_(—)1 can be used (i.e. ref=“string1”    ref_alt_(—)1=“string2”). To demonstrate (X=“1”∥Y=“2”) &&    (A=“8”∥B=“9”) would translate to ref=“1” ref_alt_(—)1=“2” ref1=“8”    ref1_alt_(—)1=“9”.-   Repeat_[identifier]: Repeat executes the identifier query additional    times. For example, if ref=“hello” to set the identifier index at    the second occurrence of hello the following tag would be added:    repeat_ref=“1”.    Location:-   Location=“before”: Search the data in a reverse direction, starting    from the “ref” identifier. This implies that both the “start” and    “end” identifier indexes must be less than the “ref” index.-   Location=“middle”: Search the data in two directions, starting from    the “ref” identifier. This implies that the “ref” identifier index    is greater than the “start” identifier index and less than the “end”    identifier index.-   Location=“after”: Search the data in a forward direction, starting    from the “ref” identifier. This implies that both the “start” and    “end” identifier indexes must be greater than the “ref” index.-   Start: Start is primarily used when action=“get_string” and may also    be used for replace/remove instructions. The start identifier index    will be the start index of the string to extract. If an AND case is    required multiple “start” identifiers can be used (i.e.    start=“string1” start1=“string2”). If an OR case is required    start_[start identifier]_alt_(—)1 can be used (i.e. start=“string1”    start_alt_(—)1=“string2”). To demonstrate (X=“1”∥Y=“2”) &&    (A=“8”∥B=“9”) would translate to start=“1” start_alt_(—)1=“2”    start1=“8” start1_alt_(—)1=“9”. To find the n^(th) match see the    repeat syntax.-   End: End is primarily used when action=“get_string” and may also be    used for replace/remove instructions. The end identifier index will    be the end index of the string to extract. If an AND case is    required multiple “end” identifiers can be used (i.e. end=“string1”    end1=“string2”). If an OR case is required end_[end    identifier]_alt_(—)1 can be used (i.e. end=“string1”    end_alt_(—)1=“string2”). To demonstrate (X=“1”∥Y=“2”) &&    (A=“8”∥B=“9”) would translate to end=“1” end_alt_(—)1=“2” end1=“8”    end1_alt_(—)1=“9”. To find the n^(th) match see the repeat syntax-   Max_index: Max_index is used to limit the scope of a query by    ensuring that no other identifier index is greater than the    “max_index” . . . If an AND case is required multiple “max_index”    identifiers can be used (i.e. max_index=“string1”    max_index1=“string2”). If an OR case is required    max_index_[max_index identifier]_alt_(—)1 can be used (i.e.    max_index=“string1” max_index_alt_(—)1=“string2”). To demonstrate    (X=“1”∥Y=“2”) && (A=“8”∥B=“9”) would translate to max_index=“1”    max_index alt_(—)1=“2” max_index=“8” max_index_alt_(—)1=“9”. To find    the nth match see the repeat syntax.-   Max_Index_Use_Ref: Max_Index_Use_Ref is a Boolean value set to 0    or 1. It is used with Max_index. When set to 0, the “max_index” will    begin querying at the beginning of the data. When set to 1, the    “max_index” will begin querying from the “ref” identifier index.-   Gbl_append_[identifier]: Gbl_append appends a string passed via the    url to the identifiers query value-   Gbl_Repeat_[identifier]: Gbl_Repeat executes the identifier query    additional times. For example, if ref=“hello” to set the identifier    index at the second occurrence of hello the following tag would be    added: gbl_repeat_ref=“var” where var would be passed in the URL    i.e. http://www.eshop.ca/mobile/fatfree.asp?site= . . . &url= . . .    &var=1.-   Tolerance: Tolerance is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1. It is used to    return an empty string. By default tolerance is set to 0 which    enforces that a property be found on a page, otherwise the page will    be marked as “invalid” and an appropriate error message returned.    When set to one, an empty value is returned for properties that can    not be located.-   Include_sz: Include_sz is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and used    with get_string. It is by default set to 0. When set to 1 it    includes the “start” value and the “end” value as part of the    result.-   Include_start: Include_start is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and    used with get_string. It is by default set to 0. When set to 1 it    includes the “start” value as part of the result.-   Include_end: Include_end is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and used    with get_string. It is by default set to 0. When set to 1 it    includes the “end” value as part of the result.-   Closetag: Closetag is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and used when    action=“get_string”. It appends/> to the extracted value.-   Strip_Tags: Strip_Tags removes HTML tags from the value and used    when action=“get_string”.-   Strip_tags=“1”: remove all tags.-   Strip_tags=“2”: remove all br and script tags.-   Strip_tags=“3”: remove all tags except replace </p> </li> with <br>.-   Strip_tags=“4”: remove all tags except replace </div> <br> with    <br>.-   Strip_tags=“tag1, tag2, . . . tagN”: remove all tag1, tag2, . . .    tagN leaving any tag not listed.-   Notrim: Notrim is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and used when    action=“get_string”. By default all value have white spaced trimmed.    When this property is set to 1, white space is not trimmed.-   Append: Append is a string value and used when action=“get_string”.    It appends a string to the extracted value.-   Prepend: Prepend is a string value and used when    action=“get_string”. It prepends a string to the extracted value.-   Upper: Upper is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and used when    action=“get_string”. It converts all characters to upper case.-   Lower: Lower is a Boolean value set to 0 or 1 and used when    action=“get_string”. It converts all characters to lower case.    Page Syntax

The page syntax extracts the paging information from the data. Thisallows the end user the ability to change pages just as on the desktop.

-   Page_variable: Defines unique key that defines a family's paging    feature.-   Page_start: Defines value of first page in a family's paging    feature.-   Page_post: Path where paging variable(s) must be transmitted to.-   Page_start: Defines value of first page in a family's paging    feature.-   Page_increment: Defines value that paging increases by for each page    in a family's paging feature.-   Page_block: Defines unique key that defines a family's paging block    feature.-   Page_block_size: Defines the size of the family's page block. (i.e.    10 items per page)-   Url_append: Append the unique key that defines a family's paging    feature and the page number.    Search Syntax

Make a web site family's search feature functional by specifying detailssuch as what variable to post.

-   Search_path: Search path where search variable must be transmitted    to-   Search_variable: Name of search variable which a web site's search    feature is looking to read, request, post, etc.-   Url_replace: Remove a portion of the url that is specific to posting    search parameters    URL Syntax

The url tag defines global properties for a site, including the url, andname:

-   <url location=“http://www.eshop.ca” key=“eshop.ca” name=“E-Shop”/>-   Name: Name is the name to display when browsing using the gateway    120-   Location: Location defines the fully qualified address of the site.-   Key: Key is the site.    Advanced Syntax

The advanced tag defines global properties for the site. This at aminimum includes the path to the initial page of the site.

<advanced>  <index_link value=“http://www.eshop.ca” />  <check_outvalue=“1” /> </advanced>

-   Index_link: Index_link specifies the path to the initial page of the    site. This is usually the same page as the location property from    the URL syntax. This field is always required.-   Append_link: Appends a string value to every URL requested for this    site.-   No_purchase: No_purchase is a Boolean value 0 or 1. The default    value is 0 which implies that an item should contain a purchase    link. When true, the purchase link is removed.-   No_item: No_item is a Boolean value 0 or 1. The default value is 0    which implies that Item pages should show up in the breadcrumb. When    true, the item is not added to the breadcrumb.-   Check_out: Check_out is a Boolean value 0 or 1. The default value is    0 which implies that Item purchase link sends the request and    control away from the gateway server 120. When true, then a checkout    process has been created for use with gateway server 120.-   Product_img_width: Product_img_width defines the width of all item    images.-   Use_cookies: Use_cookies a Boolean value 0 or 1. By default it is    set to 0, and cookies are not passed to the site. When true, gateway    120 passes all cookies from client machine 102 to the site 104, and    from the site 104 to the client machine.    Page Type Syntax

The page type is a collection of lookup queries that have an idassociated with them. Lookup queries may be processed in a top downfashion. The first successful lookup will trigger another section in thesignature schema document. For example, if the following evaluates totrue:

<page_type>  <lookup type=“pex” action=“locate_string”name=“list_elements” id=“mylist_1” ref=“&lt;!--” /> </page_type>

Then the tag element <list_elements id=“mylist_(—)1”> would be executednext.

General Element Syntax

Elements include list_elements, menu_elements, item_elements,search_elements, form_elements. Each element has an ID. For example amenu element:

-   <menu_element id=“menu_id”/>    The element may contain the following sub containers (settings,    actions, elements, paging) which scope resides only within the    element. Each element is associated with a specific rendering    function.

<menu_element id=”menu_id”/>  <settings> </settings>  <paging> </paging >  <elements> </ elements >  <actions> </ actions ></menu_element>Settings Syntax

Settings syntax varies based on the type of element it resides in.Settings allow customizations that only apply to a specific page family.

-   Black_list-menu_elements: Black_list removes menu items with names    that reside in the black list. Each entry is separated delimited    (e.g. using two pound characters (##).-   Pass_image-list_elements, search_elements: Pass_image adds the image    path to the url when requesting an item. The image added to the url    will be used as the item image.-   Price[n]-item_elements: Price[n] where n is an integer renames the    rendered item with name price[n].-   Action-form_elements: Overrides the action of a form displayed to    the end user.-   Handle-form_elements-   Handle=“display”—display the form to the end user.-   Handle=“post”—post the form.-   Handle=“get”—get the form.-   Cookie-form_elements: Send additional cookies when posting this    form.-   Input_[identifier]-form_elements: Input tag adds/modifies a form    value with name [identifier] setting its value.-   Rename_[identifier]-form_elements: Rename tag renames a form value    with name [identifier].    Actions Syntax

The actions tag primary function is data manipulation. It containslookup queries that modify data with actions of “move_ptr” or “end_ptr”.

<actions>  <lookup type=“pex” action=“move_ptr” ref=“&lt;/head&gt;” /></actions>

Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that alternativeembodiments are contemplated. Though not shown, a client machine mayincorporate a transcoding engine, applying a signature schema documentobtained from a repository such as repository 124 to web pages receivedfrom a web site. For example, client machine 102B may be configured withan engine in cooperation with a mini-browser application or plug-in toanother application. The engine obtains the schema document to applyagainst web page content from a particular web site. Communications withthe web site may be direct and not via a gateway 120. The transcodingengine may apply the commands from the schema and transcodeappropriately for rendering content by the mini-browser or via theplug-in.

FIG. 4 illustrates a further embodiment comprising a system 400 forcontent navigation, similar to system 100 of FIG. 1 but in which aclient machine 102C incorporates a secure transcoding engine 402, forexample, for communicating directly with web site 104 via securecommunications (e.g. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport LayerSecurity (TLS), etc.). Client machine 102C may be a wireless device suchas device 102A or wired device 102B comprising components as describedwith reference to FIG. 2 and as further described with reference to FIG.4.

Large public database-driven web sites do not typically encrypt datathat is publicly available. Instead, the sites encrypt specific pagesthat contain user information, for example login, signup, checkout, andaccount management pages. One reason why all content is not encryptedmay be that SSL/TLS is resource intensive and reduces scalability.Another reason why all content is not encrypted may be that SSL/TLSincrease response times for the end user due to the time spentencrypting and decrypting content. Examples of web sites that followthis model include online stores, news sites, sports information andweather. Therefore, since the number of SSL/TLS pages is relativelysmall, signature schema can be created to define a mobile friendlylayout. Another benefit of the signature schema, is that each field inan HTML form can be classified and populated with user data from anexternal application. It will be understood that each individual SSL/TLSpage will likely require its own respective page family template withina schema.

In contrast to FIG. 1, FIG. 4 shows a client machine 102C comprising abrowser application 86C similar to browser 86 for communicating with website 104 via gateway and schema server 120. In a similar way, asignature schema may be used to transcode un-encrypted communications ofweb pages 110 to provide transcoded data 408. However, browser 86C maybe further configured to communicate through secure transcoding engine402, handing off communications for secure web pages 404 when suchcommunications between machine 102C and web site 104 are to beencrypted. Secure transcoding engine 402 may communicate with gatewayand schema server 120 to obtain the signature schema document 122 whichmay be applied to transcode secure communications with web site 104.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow among client machine 102C, gateway and schemaserver 120 and web site 104 for secure communications such as for webpage 404. It may be presumed that client machine 102C has previouslyinitiated a flow similar to FIG. 3 for a web page 110 that has resultedin transcoded response 408 from gateway and schema server 120 includingthe actual location of the secure content (e.g. for end to end encryptedcommunications with site 104 via HTTPs protocols). Browser 86C hands offthe request communication (502) to secure transcoder engine 402. Secureengine 402 requests (504) a signature schema 122 from server 120/engine140. The request may be validated and the schema 122 returned (506) bythe engine 140 from schema repository 124 as may be necessary. Secureengine 402 requests 508 the secure content (e.g. 404) via end-to-endencrypted communication from the web server 106. The secure engine 402receives (510) the secure content 404 from the web server 106, decryptsthe content and then invokes the transcoder using the signature schema122 as instructions to extract the subset of data from the web page 404and to re-construct the content in a mobile friendly view for renderingby the browser.

Schema document 122 may include instructions for populating secureresponses to web site 104 with data previously stored to client machine102C. Such information may include personal information that has beenstored using an external client application 406 such as a passwordkeeping application for securely storing (encrypted) personalinformation. Schema documents may be coded with suitable instructions toinvoke communications or application programming interfaces between thesecure transcoding engine and external application 406 to securelyobtain such data. Such information may be available via a plug-in (notshown) to browser 86C.

System 100 may be implemented so that a plurality of web sites arecoupled to the telecommunication network (either alone by a server 106or by a plurality of web servers like web-server 106), and that acorresponding plurality of schemas for each of those web sites (or eachof the web pages therein, or both) can be maintained by gateway andschema server 120 and repository 124. There can in fact be a pluralityof gateway and schema servers (like server 120). Client machines 102 canbe configured for proxied connection through different servers 120.Servers 120 can be hosted by a variety of different parties, including,for example but without limitation: a) a manufacturer of client machine102, b) a service provider that provides access to the telecommunicationnetwork on behalf of user U of a client machine 102; c) the entity thathosts web-site 104 or d) a third party intermediary. In web site hostexample it can even be desired to simply combine the web server 106 andschema server engine 120 on a single server to thereby obviate the needfor separate servers.

Accordingly, signature schemas may be defined to provide custom browsingexperiences for small (e.g. mobile) devices (among others) and theproposed framework avoids changing web site code for existing web sites.Data extracted from the web sites may be intelligently stored to arelational database using knowledge of the web pages (i.e. the objectsand their attributes) incorporated into the signature schemas. Querylanguage may be used to direct a search of the web page as an ASCII textfile to look for signatures to distinguish the web page's family (fromother web page families of a site) and to identify the subset of data tobe extracted.

1. A method of automatically generating transcoding instructions to locate and extract a subset of data from a selected web page of a web site, the method comprising: receiving an input describing the subset of data, said input comprising one or more data fields and, for each data field, respective field values from at least two sample web pages of a web page family for the web site; identifying a common pattern among the respective field values for the at least two sample web pages to define a pattern match between the respective data field values, said matching pattern defining a signature for the data field; and generating the transcoding instructions in accordance with the identified common pattern, the transcoding instructions comprising location information of field values for extracting the subset of data within a web page of the web page family, the transcoding instructions for expressing the extracted subset of data in a target format thereby to transcode the web page, wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises locating the respective field values in the respective web page code.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises locating object tags within the web page code.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising constructing a programmatic data structure representing a hierarchy of object tags within the web page code and reviewing the hierarchy to determine the commonality.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises performing pattern recognition to define a common pattern within the web page code.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the web page code comprises markup language in plain text.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein each signature comprises characters selected from the plain text of the web page code.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically defining the input in accordance with a tagging tool that identifies the respective field values from the sample web pages.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the web site comprises an e-commerce web site for making a purchase.
 9. A system for automatically generating transcoding instructions to locate and extract a subset of data from a selected web page of a web site, the system comprising a processor and memory coupled thereto, said memory storing instructions and data to configure the processor for: receiving an input describing the subset of data, said input comprising one or more data fields and, for each data field, respective field values from at least two sample web pages of a web page family for the web site; identifying a common pattern among the respective field values for the at least two sample web pages to define a pattern match between the respective data field values, said matching pattern defining a signature for the data field; and generating the transcoding instructions in accordance with the identified common pattern, the transcoding instructions comprising location information of field values for extracting the subset of data within a web page of the web page family, the transcoding instructions for expressing the extracted subset of data in a target format thereby to transcode the web page, wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises locating the respective field values in the respective web page code.
 10. The system of claim 9 wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises locating object tags within the web page code.
 11. The system of claim 10 further comprising constructing a programmatic data structure representing a hierarchy of object tags within the web page code and reviewing the hierarchy to determine the commonality.
 12. The system of claim 9 wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises performing pattern recognition to define a common pattern within the web page code with which to locate the respective field values.
 13. The system of claim 9 wherein the web page code comprises markup language in plain text.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein each signature comprises characters selected from the plain text of the web page code.
 15. The system of claim 9 further comprising automatically defining the input in accordance with a tagging tool that identifies the respective field values from the sample web pages.
 16. The system of claim 9 wherein the web site comprises an e-commerce web site for making a purchase.
 17. A computer program product for automatically generating transcoding instructions to locate and extract a subset of data from a selected web page of a web site, the computer program product storing computer readable instructions which when executed by a computer processor configure the processor to: receive an input describing the subset of data, said input comprising one or more data fields and, for each data field, respective field values from at least two sample web pages of a web page family for the web site; identify a common pattern among the respective field values for the at least two sample web pages to define a pattern match between the respective data field values, said matching pattern defining a signature for the data field; and generate the transcoding instructions in accordance with the identified common pattern, the transcoding instructions comprising location information of field values for extracting the subset of data within a web page of the web page family, the transcoding instructions for expressing the extracted subset of data in a target format thereby to transcode the web page, wherein identifying the commonality among the respective field values comprises locating the respective field values in the respective web page code. 